The Thomas Fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties has burned 270,000 acres and was 50 percent contained as of Monday evening.

"We've partnered with the Air National Guard and they're providing us with high detailed maps," Motta said. "With that information you can see where the hottest areas of the fire are so we can steer the fire away from the more populated areas, which is what we're doing right now."

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Maj. Nicholas Edwards, the 222nd Intelligence Support Squadron director of incident awareness and assessment, said the purpose of the Air National Guard is to help the community and the state.

"We are using full-motion video from the MQ-9 to map the fire lines and look at fire expansion and progression," he said in a written statement. "We have a liaison in place with all of the fire chiefs so we can provide them with up to date information."